Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

The crucial identity factor

Marri Ramu

In any murder case, identification of the body is crucial for the progress of investigation. Notwithstanding the shrewdness of the accused, several mysterious murder cases were cracked once the victims' identity was established.

The Panjagutta police were absolutely clueless when they found the decomposed body of an unidentified youngster in a lodge room at Ameerpet on August 26 this year. It was suspected that the victim was strangulated to death a couple of days ago. Except for a piece of torn newspaper belonging to the Chittoor edition, no other material was found.

The victim was clad in a pair of trousers and a shirt. Black leather shoes and a tie were also found. Absence of tailor marks on the clothes capped the chances of establishing his identity. The bare details entered in the lodge register also could not lead the police anywhere. Inquiries revealed that a large number of visitors to the lodge come from Rayalaseema region. As a shot in the dark, officials got the victim's photos and the murder news published in newspaper editions of that area.

Two days later, a group of students pursuing Master of Hospital Management of Apollo Hospitals approached the police saying one of their classmates, P. Madhusudhan Reddy, was found missing from August 27. They could not make out if the victim found in the lodge was Madhusudhan as the body was decomposed beyond recognition. But, they grew suspicious as Madhusudhan told some of them that he was going to that lodge to meet his brother-in-law, G. Vijay Kumar Reddy, earlier.

At that time, a seminar on pharmaceuticals was being held in the hospital and the students were busy participating in it. Madhusudhan took a pair of leather shoes from one of his friends to attend the seminar. When the police showed the shoes recovered on the victim's body, they confirmed that the victim was Madhusudhan.

The needle of suspicion pointed towards Vijay Kumar. But probe from that angle didn't yield any result as Vijay Kumar Reddy was found admitted in a hospital at Tirupati two days after the murder was reported. He lodged a complaint with the Tirupati police saying he was robbed and beaten up by robbers while travelling from Chittoor to Tirupati and subsequently got admitted to the hospital.

However, Madhusudhan's parents were not convinced with the version. On their insistence, the police further questioned Vijay. After initially denying his involvement, Vijay finally confessed to the police that he, along with his friend, Shaik Syed Basha, killed Madhusudhan. Vijay committed the murder fearing that he might not get any share in the property of his father-in-law as huge money would be spent to complete Madhusudhan's education, the police said quoting his confessional statement.

Vijay, along with his friend, Shaik Syed Basha, a car driver, checked into the lodge, rang up Madhusudhan saying they wanted to discuss some family matters. When Madhusudhan went inside the bathroom, the duo overpowered and strangled him to death.

(Inspector, Sai Krishna, SI, Shiva Maruthi, head constable, Prabhakar, and constable, Naidu, investigated the case.)

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